New Challenges, New Goals, Better Attitude

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My life has changed and I’ve set me sights on some new health goals to work towards.   FreeDigitalPhotos.net and mrpuen.

Over the last 5 years I’ve learned to focused on health and not weight loss. The results have been awesome. My doctor pronounced me healthy. After achieving my goal  I did the expected.

I coasted.

For 18 months I maintained my weight of 185 pounds. Sure I still wanted to drop about 25-30 “vanity” pounds because I knew the extra weight would eventually cause havoc as I got older. Knowing that didn’t propel me to take action. Oh, I came up with some new goals…and promptly started coasting again.

Why? No fire in the belly.

Five years ago I was staring at a bleak, unhealthy future of diabetes and heart disease. Fear drove me to act. But once I reclaimed my health, I thought the fight was over.

Boy was I wrong. Read More

Time To See An Endocrinologist

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Making an appointment with the needle! Actually an endocrinologist to find out which hormones are going wacky since my surgery. Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhoto.net and watiporn.

I’m waving the white flag. I keep reading so many conflicting things about my metabolism, weight gain/loss, and my menopause symptoms that it’s time to call in the big guns.

About 3 months ago my radiation oncologist suggested I meet with an endocrinologist to help with my raging hormones. Well I’m taking this advice to heart as I’ve come to the conclusion that most LCHF/Keto research is pretty much skimpy when it comes to menopausal women.   We’re just not as sexy as athletes.

Anyway, an endocrinologist focuses on hormone health and can recommend natural remedies – dietary, exercise, supplements, and acupuncture – to rebalance your hormone levels.

Whack-A-Mole Symptoms
I make one change to my diet to end the hot flashes, only to have insomnia rear it’s ugly head. Adjust for insomnia, here come the night sweats. It just goes on.

I’m trying to tackle this without knowing what it is I need to tackle. Do I have a thyroid problem? I’ve gained weight since surgery so are my fat cells producing too much of the bad estrogen? Is my cortisol level too high or too low? What about progesterone or testosterone? My resistance to insulin must be even more weakened now, right?

I just don’t know. It’s time to find out.

 

Combating Bloat By Working The Abs, Avoiding Veggies

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veggies

Some of my favorite veggies are awesome on the health scale, but are not helping my abdominal bloat.

One of the side effects of surgical menopause is my body has absolutely no time to adjust to the drop in estrogen. This means dealing painful stomach bloating. How bad is the bloat? Some times my belly swells so large I look pregnant. Yikes!

It gets especially painful around my belly button – that’s where the camera was inserted for my surgery. It’s the one incision area that is the slowest to heal as it takes the brunt of the bloating.

There are a few things I can do with my diet and exercise to minimize the bloating while my body finds its footing.

  1. Bidding Adieu to My Favorite Veggies – For the time being certain vegetables no longer welcomed in my kitchen. While I don’t use a lot of garlic and onions, they are a staple when it comes to adding flavor. Unfortunately they contain fructans, soluble fibers that cause bloating. I’m also giving up all cruciferous vegetables – broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale, all cabbage, collard greens… Oh the list seems to go on! At least spinach, avocados and tomatoes are safe.
  1. Kicking Out Carbonated Water – The carbon dioxide in carbonated water can get trapped in the digestive system, causing bloat. I started drinking carbonated water as a way to drink more water. Now I drink about 80-90 ounces of tap water a day, so kicking fizzy water to the curb shouldn’t be difficult.
  1. Building Up My Core – On days where I do yoga or walk the bloat is pretty much non-existent. Not so much when I do weight training.  Thankfully there are some other exercises that can safely incorporate into my strength training: crunches, sit ups, seated twist and energy push. The first three are perfect for strength training as they use body weight. The energy push can be used as part of my warm up routine.

These three steps are my starting point. Now there is a chance that I may have to give up my beloved dairy. I certainly don’t have any signs of lactose intolerance.  Nonetheless I started cutting back on dairy (creams and cheese) to get my total daily carbs under 20g.

I plan to see how well these 3 steps help with the bloat. Maybe by the end of the month I’ll see if dairy needs to get added to the list.

Pelvic Floor Strength Thru The Roof!

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Pelvic floor muscle

With my hysterectomy, I have too much room down there and organs can start shifting, causing major problems. And my radiation treatment left me with a bit of incontinence. Good news there is an exercise to fix me.

After a three of months of doing pelvic floor exercises 6 times a day everyday, I’ve officially graduated from physical therapy. No cap n’ gown were involved, but I made great progress and no longer need therapy. My pelvic floor strength was off the chart. Awesome considering how bad I was before I started.

I figured I was making progress about a month ago. After one sneezing frenzy nothing leaked out of my bladder.

Yes…it’s the simple things that make me happy these days.

Nonetheless, my therapist suggested I do my pelvic exercises 3 times a day to build endurance and maintain strength. Important now that my uterus is gone. Also she wants me to work on building hip strength.

Between my yoga, squats and Fitness Blender routines, my hips should feel the burn in no time.

Now it’s time to work on the rest of me.

January Reading: The Case Against Sugar

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My first read of the new year, The Case Against Sugar by the man whose done more to influenced the nutrition debate over the last 10+ years than anyone else, Gary Taubes.

I try avoiding sugar as much as possible. It jacks up my blood sugar and insulin levels too much. It’s why I don’t eat fruit (with the exception of the occasional berry).

The only way to really avoid it is to not eat any processed foods — it’s loaded with sucrose, high-fructose corn syrup or the more than 50+ names sugar goes by.  But is sugar really the new tobacco?

Today I start Gary Taubes’ new book, The Case Against Sugar. As readers know, I’m a huge fan of Taubes. His Why We Get Fat is the book that saved my life and set me down my ketogenic path.

Taubes did a great job taking down the bad science behind the idea that dietary fat (saturated fat in particular) was causing heart attacks, obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and recent growth of cancers. Looks like he’s putting the spotlight on the real culprit.

My Fasting Challenge: Days 4-7

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During days 4-7 of my 7-Day Fasting Challenge I experience some subtle changes in my mental and menopausal symptoms. Images courtesy of FreeDigitalPhoto.net, KENO64 and Simon Howden.

Sorry for the delay in posting on the final days of my 7-Day Fasting Challenge, but I had a sick doggie and husband that needed some attention. Plus while going through the last 4 days of my fast, I thought they were uneventful. The intense hunger I felt on Day 3 was gone. Once in a great while my stomach might grumble a bit, but a sip of water took care of it (Day 3 I was obsessed with food thoughts).

I even stopped opening up the fridge.

But my little notes to myself indicate there was a lot more going on than I realized at the time. Physically, my menopause symptoms were gone. I could easily get 8 hours of sleep each night. The hot flashes and chills disappeared. My anxiety dropped through the floor. Mentally I was crisp.

Worrying that my fast would cause more stress on my body (thus raising cortisol levels and stress me out further) was unfounded. Yes, I lost weight not eating for 7 days, but that really was side benefit.

Below is the highlights of days 4-7 of my fast. Read More

2017 Health, Fitness & Weight Loss Goals

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jan-7-weight

My 7-Day Fast to make sure my cancer is gone for good is over. I’m down 12 pounds. Now it’s time to set my health, fitness, weight loss and fun goals for the year.

My 7-Day Fasting Challenge is over and I feel great. I broke fast last night during my belated birthday dinner. Chilean Seabass and fresh greens never tasted so good. During dinner I started noodling about setting some goals for the year.

And I have many for the year. I think that’s because half of 2016 was consumed with my cancer diagnosis.  But now I’m cancer free and my focus is on reducing my risk for other diseases and building strength. Weight loss, as usual is the great side benefit.

Dot’s 2017 Health Goals Read More

7-Day Fasting Challenge: Day 1

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So far just one little hiccup on the first day of my 7-Day Fasting Challenge. Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhoto.net and aopsan.

My last meal was 5:00 pm dinner on New Year’s Eve at a local steakhouse. That means I’m not eating again until 5:00 pm Saturday, January 7. As I’ve written before, the primary goal for the fast is to help my body shed wonky cells before they go rogue on me. Its just one little tool I have to prevent my cancer from coming back.

However, if the fast knocks me into ketosis (fat burning mode), I’m not gonna complain.

First Weigh In Of 2017
The morning of January 1 I decided to hit the scale, something I haven’t done since my surgery (6 months + 2 days ago). I gave myself time off from the scale since I was juggling with a few things:

  1. Endometrial (uterine) cancer discovered during fertility treatments
  2. Surgery to remove it
  3. Recovery from a radical hysterectomy
  4. Surgically induced menopause
  5. Radiation therapy
  6. A leaky bladder thanks to the radiation

The last thing I needed to do was step on a scale. Read More

Jump Starting My Diet: New Year, 2 Challenges

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no-food-or-wine

I’m kicking off 2017 with two new challenges: a 7-day fast and going all of January without alcohol. Images courtesy of FreeDigitalPhoto.net, KENO64 and Simon Howden.

This is how you bring in a New Year. Not one, but two challenges. I’m doing both to improve my health. Following my cancer diagnosis back in June, I’ve been on a six-month pity party, and that resulted in a lot of unhealthy behaviors creeping back into my life.

It’s time for a reset.

Challenge #1: 7 Days, No Food
Yesterday I started a 7-Day Fasting Challenge. That’s right, no food for a week. I’m allowed water, tea, and coffee. Period. Read More

Bookending My Day With Essential Oils

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my-diffuser

Early this morning I mixed rose and bergamot oils in one of my diffusers to help focus me. The smell is divine!

I can’t believe I’m doing this. Me…the one who’d make jokes about power crystals, meditation and all the rest of that “hippie” science. Well I’m not laughing anymore. Essential oils are now a big part of fighting my wacky hormones.

If I wake up feeling a little down then I add a few drops of lavender, chamomile, bergamot and ylang ylang into my diffuser. Soon I’m feeling pretty awesome.

No energy to plow through my to do list?  Then I load up my diffuser with a few drops of grapefruit or sweet orange and voila! I’m a bundle of focused energy moving from task to task.

In the evenings, about an hour before bed I load up my bedside diffuser with lavender. While that lovely scent is filling my cool, darkened bedroom, I’m relaxing in the tub with some lavender infused bath salts. When I follow this ritual I’m out like a light when my head hits the pillow. If not, I’m in for an evening of tossing and turning.

Science Be Damned. This Works For Me.
The science on essential oils is very light to say the least. I know that humans have a long history of using plants for healing. But I’m also aware of the power of suggestion. Read More